BANGLADESHI women are 80 per cent more likely than white women to develop oral cancer, it emerged this week. And women in Tower Hamlets are most at risk with nearly half of females in the borough s South Asian community chewing tobacco on a daily basis.

BANGLADESHI women are 80 per cent more likely than white women to develop oral cancer, it emerged this week.

And women in Tower Hamlets are most at risk with nearly half of females in the borough's South Asian community chewing tobacco on a daily basis.

NHS Tower Hamlets has released the figures in the run-up to World No Tobacco Day on Monday with the aim of encouraging women to kick the habit.

Women eat the tobacco with pann which is a betel leaf filled with the powdered drug and spices.

Professor of Community Oral Health at Queen Mary University, Ray Croucher, has been studying the use of paan amongst South Asian communities.

He said: "Evidence shows that smokeless tobacco users in South Asia have a two and a half time greater risk of developing oral pre-cancer and cancer."

NHS Tower Hamlets' Bangladeshi Stop Tobacco Project (BSTP) aims to help members of the community, including women, to quit.

Health trainers and public health advisors from the project will be promoting the stop smoking services and increasing awareness on oral cancer across the borough.

The mobile dental unit will be at Watney Market in Shadwell on Thursday June 3 to provide free check-ups.

There will be a Cancer Awareness Roadshow in Chrisp Street Market between 10am and 4pm from June1-4.